Baby Boomers, Public - PDF document

Baby Boomers, Public Service and Minority Communities: A Case Study of the Jewish Community in the United States David M. Elcott, PhD Research Center for Leadership In Action Berman Jewish Policy Archive Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service New York University In concert with Civic Ventures 3 T he complex challenges we face as a society today—from global climate change to education reform and healthcare—require that we engage the talents of people at all levels of organizations, across diverse sectors of society and increasingly across the lifespan. These challenges call on us to enact leadership as a collective achievement. At NYU Wagner’s Research Center for Leadership in Action, we are concerned with building knowledge and capacity for leadership that will transform society and strengthen our democ - racy. The research our faculty colleague, Dr. David Elcott, presents in this report offers critical insight into the motivations and potential contributions of one very important constituency in that effort, the Baby Boom generation. As Boomers move toward what would traditionally be considered “retirement” age, social sector organizations of all kinds have an unprecedented opportunity to harness their talents, expertise and energy in service of leadership that advances communities and provides new solutions to intractable social issues. At the same time, with younger generations taking up leadership in new ways—with increased meaning, participation and exibility—and Boomers staying engaged, new possibilities are emerging for restructuring leadership roles and fostering intergenerational collaboration and learning. David’s specic focus on Jewish Baby Boomers has important implications for our broader understanding of the unique contributions diverse groups are making to work for the public good. Finally, his ndings about what it will take for Jewish organizations to leverage Boomers’ talents hold practical insights for all nonprot organizations as they seek to build leadership across the generations. Bethany Godsoe, Executive Director Research Center for Leadership in Action, NYU Wagner 5 This research focuses on one such minority community, the Jewish community in the United States. By analyzing a national survey in 34 communities of Jewish Baby Boomers, compar - ing the results to a national survey by the MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures in 2008 and utilizing the comments recorded in seven focus groups, this study addresses the impact of Baby Boomers and retirement/Encore careers on one minority community. The interest is to provide a baseline understanding of the retire - ment plans of Jewish Baby Boomers that can be extrapolated to offer data and analysis that could help minority communities sustain Baby Boomer allegiance. The research described in this paper lays out the tools for doing so, highlighting the types of efforts minority com - munities can use to engage Baby Boomers in public service and foster institutional changes that can then be replicated across the country. Minority communities, even those as orga - nized as the Jewish community, do not nec - essarily have the resources and research to inuence effectively the discussion concerning Encore public service careers for Baby Boomers or provide the services Baby Boomers would require. Unlike major national efforts that are well funded and publicized, minority com - munities may nd it difcult to marshal the resolve and effect the institutional changes necessary to create a public service Encore infrastructure. Yet without major retooling to capture Baby Boomer attention and allegiance, an open society in which minority members can seek meaning and professional or volun - teer fulllment in any setting they choose will prevail to the detriment of minority communi - ties in the United States. Major Findings Themostsalient�ndingsprovidedbythisstudyinclude: 1. Wealthier and more educated Baby Boomers are not likely to seek retirement in the traditional sense at 65. In fact, nearly 80 percent are prepared to consider an Encore career in some form of public service. 2. Jews are potentially less likely than other educated and wealthy Americans to seek out an Encore career in public service. 3. Jewish Baby Boomers are concerned about earning income (although not simply for economic security), as well as staying active and involved as they grow older. 4. The two most emphatically perceived needs for those interestedinanEncorecareerare(a)�exibletime and (b) staying active, productive, challenged and intellectually engaged. 5. Jewishprofessionalsexpressedgreatconcernsthat the demands Baby Boomers (both volunteers and those seeking paid positions) will place on Jewish institutions are more than these institutions can handle. Jewish institutions are not prepared or preparingforanin�uxofBabyBoomersasvolunteers or Encore career professionals. 6. Jewish Baby Boomers would prefer being helped by Jewishcommunalagenciesin�ndingmeaningful Encore activities and would also prefer to serve the wider American society through Jewish institutions, but they are also prepared to utilize non-Jewish resources if the services and opportunities they seek are not available in the Jewish community. 7. The majority of Jewish Baby Boomers do not at this time see either volunteer or paid Encore careers as a waytoexpresstheirJewishidentity. 7 This study, then, focuses on one aspect of the civic engagement conversation: the poten - tial public service of Baby Boomers as they move toward traditional retirement age and the possible impact on minority communities, specically the Jewish community in the United States. We will explore how Jewish Baby Boomers think about public service, compare their views with those of other Americans and consider what attracts and concerns these Jewish Baby Boomers when they think about retirement. We will also indicate what institutional tensions arise for Jewish communal organizations and the overall Jewish community in terms of using Jewish Baby Boomer Encore (paid and volunteer) careers as a way to fortify identity and allegiance. The Jewish community may be unique among minority groups in terms of its demographics and degree of institutional organization. Jews in the United States, as will be claried below, are relatively wealthier and more educated than the population at large. They have built sophisticated local and national organizational structures that have functioned for more than 100 years. Not all the ndings of this study will have direct implications for other minority groups in America. Yet, if the core issue is the impact of Baby Boomer civic engagement and public service over the next decades and the vitality of minority communities, analysts and communal leaders should be able to apply many of the ndings here to other minority com - munities, as well as expand a comparative framework for structuring future research. This study, then, means to be part of a larger body of work looking at Baby Boomers in the work and volunteer force. Therefore, we begin with an examination of what we have learned from the eld of Baby Boomer study. WhatWeKnowaboutBabyBoomers, Encore Careers and Retirement The idea that Baby Boomers will stay in the labor force beyond 65, but in different types of work, is foreshadowed by somewhat older Americans who have been tracked in national labor studies. As Giandrea et al. explain, “Older Americans are staying in the labor force longer than prior trends would have predicted and they often change jobs later in life. In fact, the majority of older Americans who have had career jobs make a transition prior to retirement” (3). “[B]etween 2003 and 2005, the number of older workers grew faster than any other age group” (3), making a strong case that America’s future labor force will include a signicant percentage of Baby Boomer workers. It is also noteworthy that many of those workers have “the skills and experience needed in nonprot organizations” (Casner-Lotto, 2007, p.8). Joseph Quinn of Boston College, speaking at a research conference at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in April 2009, posited that since 1985 both male and female labor force participation in the 55 to 59 and older group stabilized and then actu - ally rose. He estimated that 60 percent of older Americans, when leaving career jobs, do not leave the labor force but move into Bridge jobs that are different from their career work. He found a U-shaped curve that denes retirement for older Americans. At the upper and lower ends of wealth are majorities that plan to continue working in lieu of retirement at or before turning 65, while middle class white- and blue-collar workers tend to be the ones who retire from the work force as soon as they can. At the bottom end of the income scale, people con - tinue to work out of need (for health insurance, income and other benets that they cannot afford to lose). At the higher end, they continue working because they seek meaningful activ - ity. Even after ve years, half of those who left their career jobs remain in Bridge jobs. Bridge jobs tend to pay less and offer fewer medical or pension benets but provide other benets that 9 a variety of volunteer programs offered by local Jewish family service institutions. They have asserted that the highly skilled Baby Boomer retirees must be offered volunteer opportuni - ties that are interesting, meaningful, exible and episodic rather than long term. The AJFCA study did locate a few model programs that provide volunteers with some form of remunera - tion and/or benets (Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies, 2009). No models address bringing Baby Boomers into Bridge or Encore careers in the Jewish community nor are there recruitment and training programs specically aimed at Baby Boomers. The Metro Denver/Boulder Jewish Community Study noted that 44 percent of all households in the seven counties studied are Boomer households, split almost evenly between younger (45- to 54-year-old) and older (55- to 64-year-old) Boomers. Sixty-three percent of the younger Boomers and 52 percent of older Boomers volunteered, whether for Jewish or other orga - nizations. This study did not provide data on professional public service activity (Ukeles Associates, 2008). A Cincinnati study of Baby Boomers conrmed the themes that concern Jewish communal leaders: while Jewish experience permeates their lives and there is great interest in seeking life’s meaning, they are not motivated to engage in traditional communal structures (Ukeles & Miller, 2008). United Jewish Communities, a national umbrella orga - nization (now known as the Jewish Federations of North America), convened a short-lived program “…to promote creative thinking and identify new approaches to engaging Baby Boomers in service to the Jewish community” that included a February 2007 meeting that did not lead to further investigation. 7 This noticeable lack of hard data about who Baby Boomer Jews are and what they are planning helps to make this Jewish Encore research project with its national survey more urgent and valuable. 7 The description of this project was submitted as a report to the United Jewish Communities (now the Jewish Federation of North America) by the Domestic Affairs Pillar in January 2007. 11 social service agencies. As a result, using email blasts sent by the local communities and our own, we received responses from 12,139 individuals, of whom just over 67 percent were Boomers born between 1946 and 1964. Approximately half of the Baby Boomers voiced an in - terest in Encore careers, so that there were about 4,500 responses specic to questions about a paid Encore career. Approximately 600 respondents were interested solely in volunteer Encore careers and responded only to questions about volunteer service. To test how representative the survey group is of the overall Jewish population, we ran a comparison with the data compiled in the 2000 National Jewish Population Study (see Appendices 3.1-6, which include some demographic comparisons with the ML/CV survey as well). Looking at certain key variables, the 2000 NJPS and the 2009 Jewish Encore popula - tions share quite similar marriage rates, religious afliation, synagogue and Jewish institu - tional membership, adult Jewish learning and income levels. Respondents to the Jewish Encore Survey obtained higher educational degrees than the general Jewish Baby Boomer popula - tion and contributed to Jewish causes at a higher rate. They match Joseph Quinn’s descrip - tion of Baby Boomers at the high end on the U-curve. There were more female respondents (58 percent) than male (42 percent), which reects the general trend in the U.S. that more women than men sustain religious afliation (Bruce, 2003). Overall, if we seek to learn about Jews who are more likely than others to connect public service and civic engagement to their Jewish communal identity, then the respondents to the Jewish Encore Survey are a close ap - proximation of a similar population in the 2000 NJPS sampling. 10 As noted above, the survey itself paralleled the 2008 ML/CV national survey, utilizing the ex - act same wording where possible to allow for a comparison of the national population to this particular Jewish population (Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2008a). 11 In addition, the Jewish Encore Survey looked at the volunteer interests of this population and of course tested issues of afliation with and allegiance to the Jewish community. Our analysis of the raw data of the ML/CV survey allowed us to look not only at the general population surveyed but to isolate those individuals whose education levels paralleled those in our Jewish Baby Boomer survey. So while we can compare the Jewish population of our study to the general population, we also can see how our Jewish population compares on key issues with others from the ML/CV national survey with the same socio-economic characteristics. In fact, as we will see, the Jewish population in this survey, while similar to that larger highly educated American demographic in many ways, also shows markedly different responses on a number of key questions. FocusGroupDiscussions In addition to the survey, we ran seven focus group discussions in different regions of the country: San Francisco; East Bay counties in California; Palm Beach County in Florida; Greater Miami; Los Angeles; Northern New Jersey (Bergen, Passaic and Hudson counties) and New York City. 12 The number of participants ranged from eight to 18, and the sessions 10 Analysis of the 2000 National Jewish Population Study isolating Baby Boomers has been provided by Laurence Kotler- Berkowitz, director of Research and Analysis at the United Jewish Communities (now the Jewish Federation of North America). 11 This survey was conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates between February and April 2008, involving 1,063 tele - phone interviews and 2,522 online respondents. Our analysis beneted from the collaborative efforts of their research team that provided us with the data to make comparisons. http://www.civicventures.org/publications/surveys/Encore_career_sur - vey/Encore_Survey.pdf. 12 Focus group participant responses are noted by city or state and date in parentheses throughout the text. 13 Baby Boomers at Work WhatMakesJewishBabyBoomersDifferent fromtheNationalPopulation? Jewish Baby Boomers in this survey reect a strong commitment to their professional lives and are more likely to be partners in or own their own businesses than are other American Baby Boomers. As seen in Table 1, just over ninety percent have some form of paid employment, with another 8 percent working as volunteers, a gure only slightly higher than the advanced education respondents to the ML/CV survey in both employment and volunteer involvement. The character of the professional picture, however, is different. While a similar proportion in both surveys are salaried employees, 22 percent of the Jewish Encore Survey are self-employed, a rate almost double that of the ML/CV respondents. The effects of the 2009 recession were not evident at the time of the survey in this popula - tion, with less than 1 percent of the Jewish Encore Baby Boomer respondents unemployed and looking for work. Of the 679 respondents who are not working, 23 percent are retired, 19 percent are homemakers and 7 percent are disabled. As seen in Table 2, 51 percent of Jewish Baby Boomers who are working are in a for-prot business (a gure somewhat higher than found in ML/CV Baby Boomers), while over 44 percent are already in some form of public service (NGOs, education and social service or government), a public service rate somewhat lower than found in the MetLife/Civic Ventures survey. A signicant portion of those in public service were, given the Jewish afliated pool of respondents, professionally linked in some fashion to the Jewish community. We do not know what percentage of those questioned in the ML/CV survey work in faith-based settings, since as we have noted, religion was not a variable considered in their study. Table 1: Baby Boomers’ descriptions of their paid or volunteer activity* Civic VenturesJewish Encore Advanced EducationGeneral Yes, working for pay737068 Yes, working as a volunteer without pay Yes, working for other compensation Yes, self-employed121122 Other1114 Note: All table results shown are percentages unless otherwise stated. (Because percentages are rounded, they may not total 100%). 17 In trying to understand why a third of the respondents were indecisive about their plans, we asked some of the follow-up focus groups to explain the glaring difference between Jewish re - spondents and those of the national survey. Certainly there is some economic anxiety around whether there will be enough to live on and take care of the children and grandchildren when life spans are rapidly increasing. Baby Boomers may have spoken with nancial planners and insurance agents, but Boomers seem not to have focused on growing old, and there are few settings in which such conversations take place. No one in any focus group—neither Baby Boomers nor those in Jewish policymaking, social service and counseling agencies—could provide examples of Jewish forums tasked with imagining a Baby Boomer future. Because retirement at age 65 has been the accepted norm, with whole industries catering to retirement as the only lifestyle choice, and because youth has been the core narrative of Baby Boomers, what to do next simply has been unaddressed. But why Jewish Baby Boomers are more unwill - ing to choose one path or another may be culturally specic, perhaps a reection of a tradition of leaving questions unanswered. Baby Boomers Are Unsure about Investing in Encore Careers with a Social Purpose We then introduced the notion of public service Encore careers and isolated those who expressed some interest in an Encore career that would utilize their experience and skills to help people in their commu - nities or the broader world. This question expressly focused on some form of paid po - sition rather than volunteer work. It noted that people have different ideas about what to do after they nish their midlife work. One path, the question stated, is to “continue working but in different work that lets them use their experience and skills to help people in their communi - ties or the broader world.” We provided examples such as working for a nonprot organization or government or in teaching or health care. We noted that the reasons could be nancial gain, giving back to society or both. Responses to this question—those who gave a rating of eight or more out of ten— were much higher for the general popula - tion than for the Jewish Baby Boomers in the survey. Negative responses, indicating no interest in such careers, were almost double among Jewish Baby Boomers, while a similar percentage in both groups felt that this sounded like what they are already doing. Such a strong negative (0 to Because retirement at age 65 has been the accepted norm, with whole industries catering to retirement as the only lifestyle choice, and because youth has been the core narrative of Baby Boomers, what to do next simply has been unaddressed. But why Jewish Baby Boomers are more unwilling to choose one path or another may be culturally specic, perhaps a reection of a tradition of leaving questions unanswered. 20 more so, benets, these numbers were dwarfed by two very powerful perceived needs. One need is ensuring exible time, a reection of “taking life easy” (deemed very important by over 60 percent). The second need clusters around seeking sources of meaning, as indicated in a desire to stay active, productive and challenged (over 70 percent) while using skills and experience gained to help others (over 60 percent). In fact, when looking at the top categories (“very” or “somewhat important”), these dual concerns occupy well over 90 percent of those who are considering Encore careers. As one focus group participant said, “I see people who move to lower-level jobs even in the same eld. Someone who wants to live in St. Augustine will work at a lower level just to get benets like exibility” (New York, Jan. 28, 2010). In particular, the need for exibility has been conrmed by studies independent of our sur - veys. In writing about the longitudinal national Health and Retirement Study , Giandrea et al. (2008) noted that an unusually high percentage of older Americans are transitioning from salaried jobs into self-employment. They showed that the key advantage of the move to self- employment is control over one’s job, of which exibility in work schedule is a classic example. Jewish Baby Boomers Seeking Meaning May Not Look to the Jewish Community There is a concern for a minority com - munity such as the Jewish community embedded in these data. While 90 percent of these respondents afrm a signicant degree of importance to nding greater meaning in their lives and feeling a sense of accomplishment, this goal does not immediately connect to their Jewish identity. Only a limited minority saw an Encore public service career as one way to live out their Jewish lives or express their Jewish identity. While three-quarters of the Jewish respondents claimed that they want to help other Jews, that objective was viewed as very important only to a third of those who were thinking about what they would do for an Encore career. This was conrmed anecdotally in the focus groups. Whenever a focus group respondent noted that until reading about this survey and engaging in this discussion the idea of using skills and experience as an Encore career in the Jewish community had not crossed her or his mind, many others concurred. “I am the person you are worried about. I am highly educated and pretty demanding. I feel less connected at this point in my life. Being involved in the Jewish community is not at the top of my list. I am no longer a member of a synagogue or of the JCC. I am not really interested in volunteering in a Jewish organization. My experiences in the Jewish community have not been fabulous. I will look elsewhere.” —New York Focus Group Respondent 22 Volunteers All Volunteers Are Not the Same As we have noted, not all Baby Boomers see the choice as between retirement and paid Encore careers. While volunteerism was not part of the ML/CV survey, we are interested in an expanded view of how Jews express their civic engagement. As Michael Walzer noted, minority communities t within the voluntary association character of American civic life without the benet of direct government funding for their institutions (even if there is some government support of programs that are open to everyone). Without ofcial status, the Jewish community, as is the case for most minority communities, exists in its institutional form as a purely voluntary association—no one can force you to join a minority community. Volunteers play a signicant role in every minority community in America. Although many national public service volunteer programs try to offer some benets and/or stipends to their volunteers, Jewish respondents seeking public service volunteer positions had little interest in material benets such as health insurance, drug coverage or retirement funds (24 percent). When we looked at those who are already pursuing an Encore volunteer career as well as those who would consider volunteering as their expression of public service after retiring from their present job, we noticed that they did have a specic concern. Like those seeking a paid Encore career, this cohort wanted exibility while remaining productive and using their skills to do good. Unlike those who seek Encore employment, however, those focused on volunteering felt that working as part of an organization with a clear and important social purpose was important (90 percent). No doubt, if one is choosing an organization as a volunteer without pay and benets, a shared sense of the values and goals of the organization will play a much larger role in determining whether or not to volunteer. In addition, less than 20 percent of the respondents in this group saw their volunteerism as an expression of their Jewish identity, although 86 percent wanted their work to help the Jewish community. As one Jewish communal professional confessed, “Even those of us who work in the Jewish community may want to work outside” for an Encore career (Los Angeles, Nov. 25, 2009). This challenge looms large. If Baby Boomers are to establish relationships with Jewish institutions, presenting those institutions in effective and compelling ways that also enhance Jewish identity will be a critical feature of volunteer recruitment. Volunteerism Is Not the Main Focus for Baby Boomers Volunteerism as a form of Encore career is not the focus of most of those in the survey. Approximately 15 percent of the respondents denitely imagined themselves volunteering as an Encore career, while 42 percent expected some form of remuneration. Yet a larger percent - age (43 percent) were unsure what route they would take, including the possibility that they would do neither (see Table 9). Even without taking into account the economic downturn, Jewish Baby Boomers seem unsettled as they anticipate the future. Once again, this Jewish cohort is at odds with the larger national population. At the same time, there is a signicant pool of potential volunteers and job-seeking professionals who can imagine an Encore career of public service. 24 toward more Bridge and Encore careers in public sector organizations is correct, then there will need to be major shifts in their funding and/or expected products. “I do not want to organize funder cards or stuff envelopes. It may be very important, but not for me” (New York, Jan. 28, 2009) was restated in different ways in each focus group. Even Volunteers Will BecomeMoreExpensive In some ways, volunteers will pose greater challenges to Jewish institutions than paid Encore careers exactly because they cannot be paid to do whatever work is placed before them. Yet the core issues may be the same for Baby Boomer vol - unteers or paid employees. Organizations and institutions will need to consider what exibility they have in responding to the expressed needs of Baby Boomers for exible schedules, time off to care for family members and opportunities to learn and nd meaning. Given what we are learning about the increasing need for qualied professionals in the public service arena, minority communities may need to consider institutional changes that will maximize the number of Baby Boomers they can recruit for volunteer or paid Encore careers. In the end, the suc - cess of Bridge jobs and Encore careers will depend on whether institutions adapt to meet the dual demands of exibility and meaningfulness while obtaining funding for these types of positions, which will need some form of compensation. There is no shortage of studies that ad - dress the rise of more sophisticated volun - teer opportunities alongside the growing interest in paid Encore careers. 13 Even The Four Greatest Concerns about the Future of Baby Boomer Volunteers Inthecaseofvolunteerswhodonotexpectsalariesand bene�ts,allofthefocusgroupsstillvoicedgreatconcernover the capacities of Jewish institutions, especially social service agencies such as Jewish Family Service, to provide the types of meaningful volunteer opportunities increasingly desired by Jewish Baby Boomers. Their concerns, as a continuous thread connecting all the focus groups, can be clustered as follows: 1. Most positions need skilled, trained and insured professionals. Allowing volunteers to take on roles once designated for professionals opens agencies to liabilities against which they are not protected. 2. Jewish institutions and agencies, while overloaded due to budget cuts and increased demands and therefore in need of more personnel, do not have the staff time to recruit, train and supervise volunteers. As a number of focus groups noted, this is a hidden cost of using volunteers, and in the viewofmany,BabyBoomershavegreaterexpectations forful�llmentandwillplaceevengreaterdemandsonan overstretched system. As one communal professional said, “They(i.e.,BabyBoomers)aresel�shgeneration,‘me’ generation. Their search for spirituality is self-focused” (Palm Beach, Oct. 26, 2009). True or not, this perception was shared by many. 3. With well-trained and educated volunteers entering a Jewish agency, the lines between professional and volunteer would become blurred. In many cases, the volunteer will have greater training and better education than case workers or other professionals. Concerns were voiced, again mainly by the Jewish communal professionals, over hostility and jealousy. An additional concern would be pressure from unions that do not want volunteers taking positions away from union-dues-paying professionals (most of the social service agencies are unionized). 4. TheveryneedsthatBabyBoomershavefor�exiblework hours and time off for family demands and travel would mean episodic and unreliable volunteering that would prevent agencies from being able to create meaningful and important positions for volunteers or to rely on them to provide continuous service. While volunteers need time off, the agencies need consistency and reliability. 13 See examples such as Philadelphia-based Coming of Age (www.ComingofAge.org), the National Council on Aging (www.ncoa.org), VolunteerMatch (www.volunteermatch.org) or Volunteers of America (www.voa.org). 26 Minority Institutions Will Need to Change to Keep Their Baby Boomers InstitutionalTransformationIsKeytoLink Baby Boomers to Public Service The ML/CV Study provided a valuable comparison of those who already have Encore career public service employment and those who may be interested in such jobs. The study found that those who already made the move to Encore careers determined that many of the issues that had worried them did not occur. For one, job satisfaction was actually higher than antici - pated (Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2008a). A second study focused on employers found that many nonprot organizations face talent shortages and want to hire experienced work - ers. This new survey found that seven out of ten nonprot employers rated the experience that Encore workers bring to the job as a signicant benet. And nonprots with experience in hiring late-career or recently retired workers were the most positive about hiring more. However, some of the 427 nonprot employers surveyed still expressed concerns about enter - ing this uncharted territory (Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2008b). In the Jewish community, and most probably in other ethnic and religious communities, transforming the existing institutional patterns of employment will be difcult. One Jewish communal professional’s assessment was that, “Most of our organizations are set up for a nor - mal career path—start low, move up over the years until you nally get a top job. Those on this path will not want to make way for Baby Boomers who jump ahead of them” (New York, Jan. 28, 2009). But for those institutions wanting to rethink their present professional and even volunteer structures, there are models to follow. WhatMinorityCommunitiesCanDotoMobilize Baby Boomers for Public Service A study by the Conference Board, an organization that creates and disseminates knowledge about management and the marketplace, notes, “Nonprot employers that have hired experi - enced workers or retirees from for-prot and government positions nd that these people bring passion plus skills to their organizations” (Casner-Lotto, 2009, p.4). The study goes on to offer clear strategies and structures that the researchers conclude best assure successful adaptation to the nonprot workplace and serious benets to the nonprot organization (5-11). The Conference Board study concludes that Baby Boomers could be a net positive for non - prot organizations: “At a time when demand for social services is peaking, nonprots will need Boomer talent more than ever” (4). According to the organization, its strategies have assured smooth transitions and excellent results. In looking at ways to engage Baby Boomers at the organizational and community levels, some focus group participants imagined a blending of generations, mentorship programs and oppor - tunities to create multi-generational task forces. Others took the opposite approach by recom - mending a way to address elderly Baby Boomers: We can’t build up, so we will build out, creating side-by-side programs. Like what churches do, we can establish a church within a church with minyan prayer groups or community centers within existing institutions, a parallel 28 organization just like we have for youth that springs free Baby Boomer talent and allows for individual initiatives run for and by Baby Boomers (New York, Jan. 28, 2010). EvidenceDoesNotAllayFearsaboutBaby Boomers and Public Service Careers Seeing the benets of hiring Baby Boomers, though, did not allay the fears that were paral - lel and commensurate responses in each focus group. As one participant expressed, “The ‘old school’ understands the system even if they did not have the training or education. Now, people come in wanting to change things even before they know the system” (Miami, Oct. 27, 2009). The social service and communal agencies that make up the organized Jewish community were structured to provide services for those who need it, so an added concern was voiced as, “In some ways, we are reversing—not how to ll a position, but how to satisfy people seeking meaningful work” (Los Angeles, Nov. 25, 2009). Repeated concerns were that the focus on exibility threatens the sense of obligation that is expected in a professional role or even high-level volunteer roles: “Will they show up? Will they be on time? How can we depend on them?” (Palm Beach County, Oct. 26, 2009). This leads immediately to questions of competence and training: “How much can we open the eld before it undermines the integrity of the system?” (Los Angeles, Oct. 26, 2009). There is a perceived danger that this process of satisfying Baby Boomers will become a “Little Shop of Horrors,” with an ever-increasing demand of “Feed me.” One community, in addressing the array of issues surrounding recruitment and mobilization of this age cohort, concluded, “We cannot retool so quickly to use Baby Boomers as professionals or even effectively as volunteers, so we are focusing our energies on the next generations. It is a matter of triage” (East Bay, Oct. 30, 2009). Both the benets and concerns were voiced, often by the same person, throughout the focus group interview process. The core sense was: “There is a psychic dislocation—we need to continue things that are crucial, but we also know that the system is dysfunctional as it is” (Miami, Oct. 27, 2009). These focus group participants do conrm the views of initiatives such as Civic Ventures, focusing invariably on the need for change, enlarging the eld, utiliz - ing the talent, and capitalizing on the potential positive impact of Baby Boomers on the Jewish community. Enthusiasm for change was matched by anxiety about two crucial arenas: what impact would bringing in Baby Boomers as professionals or volunteers have on existing personnel and human resources systems and would exibility and job meaning undermine the professional character of the institution? In noting the absence of settings in the Jewish community to address the impact of Baby Boomers and the failure even of the few initial forays into exploring potential volunteer or professional options, one could easily conclude that “psychic dislocation” leads to decision- making paralysis—committee meetings, task forces and conferences that do not galvanize the leadership, foster no change and therefore produce no new initiatives. It will be hard for the Jewish community to address the future of Baby Boomers in the face of such inertia. 30 Baby Boomer Concerns and the Supports to Help Them in Encore Careers The ML/CV 2008 survey allowed us to look both at those who may be interested in an Encore career and those who already are in some form of Encore career. It posed questions for both cohorts to uncover concerns about making such a transition. For those thinking about an Encore career, a number of concerns loomed large. Their greatest concern was carving out the exible time they would need to take time off when desired (81 percent) or the time to take care of personal matters (71 percent). There was also concern over whether such a job would really be available (59 percent) and whether the income (68 percent) or the benets (57 percent) would be adequate—something to consider during an economic downturn. 16 A smaller percent were nervous about learning new technologies and skills (34 percent), facing discrimination over age (43 percent) and losing seniority and status (31 percent) (Peter D. Hart Research Associates 2008a). Jewish Baby Boomers Voiced Fewer Concerns The Jewish Encore Survey respondents who were interested in pursuing a public service paid position had a far lower level of concern about seeking an Encore career. Compared to the ML/CV study, only 68 percent evinced concern over being allowed enough exibility, and fewer voiced anxiety over nding free time with their family (48 percent). About half thought it would be hard to nd the work they wanted or were concerned about income or benets. Other issues of potential concern received minimal responses such as a lack of technologi - cal skills (25 percent), loss of seniority (27 percent) and even age discrimination (37 percent). Once again, the Jewish respondents have fewer concerns, and one would assume, greater con - dence in their ability to successfully navigate a public service Encore or Bridge career even if fewer are committed to take this route than are other Americans. Of greater concern to all Baby Boomers in both surveys was the perceived inability to pursue alternative goals such as taking courses, reading and other forms of self-improvement that had been deferred during their careers to that point (see Table 10). Addressing such concerns and providing evidence of what has already been shown in the eld may be key to convincing ambivalent Baby Boomers to seek public service paid or volunteer careers. Supports that May Encourage Baby Boomers to Pursue Encore Careers In terms of supports, both surveys posed a number of hypothetical questions to determine what would help promote Encore careers for Baby Boomers. Since one could choose as many supports as were deemed important, and since the cost of these supports was not mentioned, positive responses were not surprising. Even so, the differences between the respondents to each survey were striking (as shown in Table 11). In every category, a far larger percentage of Jewish respondents wanted to see services offered than in the ML/CV national survey. 16 Yet a report by the John Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies offers evidence that nonprot jobs increase even in regions where overall employment does not due to economic recession, suggesting a “counter-cyclical” nature of nonprot employ - ment. They add that public service employment is distributed among a variety of elds, from arts and education to human services and religious affairs. As recently as 2004, nonprots were adding jobs at a much higher rate than were employers as a whole. (See The Conference Board, Boomers Are Ready for Nonprots , Literature Review/Issue E-0012-07-WG, May 31, 2007, pg. 12.) 32 The two groups were more closely aligned on efforts that would end nancial penalties for continuing to work while receiving a pension (72 percent of ML/CV respondents and 84 percent of Jewish Encore respondents). Clearly, not being penalized for public service and providing nancial supports for such work play a role in the thinking of Baby Boomers. It is signicant to note that the federal government has begun responding to these concerns. HR 1388, the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, has specic provisions addressing many Baby Boomer concerns by providing a variety of funding opportunities, fellowships and grants both for those moving into public service careers and to the institutions that hire them (Project Vote Smart, 2009-10). Overall, the differential here between the expectations expressed in the ML/CV survey and the Jewish Encore Survey certainly raises questions of the anticipated concerns, feelings of entitlement and the need to receive special care or consideration held by Baby Boomers in the higher socio-economic class, and Jewish ones in particular. No doubt, if interest in these supports translates into expectations, the concerns voiced by Jewish communal professionals that Baby Boomers will place heavy demands on an over - stretched system could be realized. As noted above, the discrepancy between what the Jewish Encore Baby Boomers said they are willing to do to move into Encore public service careers and the expectations they have for supports in making such a move will become an important factor for institutions to weigh in deciding how accommodating and/or responsive to be to this new cohort. Public Service that Interests Jewish Baby Boomers DoesNotIncludeWorkinTraditionalSocialServices In probing deeper to discern what truly interests Baby Boomers willing to consider some form of Encore career, both surveys asked about what types of jobs would be most appealing. Again, we see striking variations between the higher-educated ML/CV respondents and the Table 11: Types of support that would encourage Baby Boomers to pursue Encore public service careers Civic VenturesJewish Encore Programs that help match people5992 Accelerated education or retraining programs6193 Loan forgiveness4574 Services that aid people in making a career transition5690 Access to affordable health care7991 Anendto�nancialtaxpenalties 72 84 Mid-life internships5588 Online resources6791 33 Jewish Baby Boomers. While more than 75 percent of the former found environmental work, teaching and working with chil - dren and youth appealing, only teaching approached that level of interest for the Jewish cohort. Both groups found work - ing in health care or with the elderly less appealing, while the general respondents to the ML/CV survey rated these activi - ties more positively. While fewer than a quarter (23 percent) of highly educated respondents to the ML/CV survey were interested in working with religious organizations and half (47 percent) of the general population of respondents found such work appealing, 86 percent of Jewish respondents expressed interest in work - ing with the Jewish community, and more than a quarter (26 percent) were prepared to work with other religious communities (see Table 12). Of course, translating an interest in teaching or working with the Jewish community into a meaningful opportunity will still be a challenge; these results simply illuminate a willingness by Jewish Baby Boomers to consider these as Encore careers. One comment from a Miami focus group participant was quite direct about what she and oth - ers felt: “We will need to nd some way to reward women and men Boomers. They feel burnt out doing the same things and will want new challenges. Institutions will need to make any role challenging and interesting.” (Miami, Oct. 27, 2009). “We will need to nd some way to reward… Boomers. They feel burnt out doing the same things and will want new challenges. Institutions will need to make any role challenging and interesting.” —Miami Focus Group Respondent Table 12: Public service careers that would most interest Baby Boomers Civic VenturesJewish Encore Advanced EducationGeneral Working to preserve the environment767659 Teaching at any level807475 Working with children and youth767666 Working in health care4229 Working with the elderly285734 Working on poverty issues326454 Working with the Jewish communityN/AN/A86 Working with a religious organization (unspeci�edreligion) 23 47 26 Working to protect the safety of our communities357151 34 Jewish Baby Boomers Want to Work with theJewishCommunity,But… As Table 12 signals, Jews overwhelmingly found working with the Jewish community appeal - ing, yet as shown in Table 13, when asked for their preference in seeking a full- or part-time Encore paid or volunteer career, 37 percent preferred doing this in the Jewish community, while 60 percent said that either a Jewish or non-Jewish organization would be ne (although younger Baby Boomers were more likely than older Baby Boomers to seek a Jewish organiza - tion). A tension begins to emerge in which the Jews surveyed—highly educated, wealthier by far than the average American, and Jewish-afliated—seek involvement in the Jewish com - munity yet are prepared to look elsewhere for meaning and support. This willingness of afliated Jews to look beyond the Jewish community for support and personal meaning is of central inter - est to this research and a salient concern when thinking how best to sustain minor - ity allegiance. The lack of commitment to Jewish institutions becomes clearer when we view Table 14. While about a third of Jewish respondents were interested in working in such areas as Jewish educa - tion, synagogue work, Jewish agencies that care for Jews, political advocacy and social action, the greatest interest was in Jewish agencies or organizations that serve the wider community. Even with afli - ated Jews, particularistic Jewish-focused goals showed limited appeal. We have now ltered possible responses to reveal the conict facing Baby Boomer Jews and the dilemmas facing the Jewish community as a minority group seeking to provide opportunities for Jews to participate in the community. The Baby Boomer Jews of this study hold two values that are not Table 13: Jewish Baby Boomers’ preference for working in a Jewish or non-Jewish organization, by age Jewish Baby Boomers by AgeTotal Response 44 to 5051 to 5657 to 62 I would prefer to work with a Jewish organization41363637 I would prefer not to work with a Jewish organization Eitheroftheabovewouldbe�ne 55 61 60 60 The Baby Boomer Jews of this study hold two values that are not integrated: To live out their public service by serving or working through the Jewish community and to seek life’s meaning and purpose wherever it leads them, including outside the Jewish community. 36 Table 15: Where Jewish Baby Boomers would turn for support in seeking a public service career, by age Jewish Baby Boomers by AgeTotal Response 44 to 5051 to 5657 to 62 A government agency15161516 A Jewish community agency 404240 A nonsectarian service13161615 for-pro�tcompany Provider not important55575756 38 institutions to capitalize on the public service aspirations of a signicant percentage of Jewish Baby Boomers as they move into their 60s and 70s. This means providing recruitment mecha - nisms, resources and supports for training and placement, meaningful work, exible schedules and opportunities for growth and development, as well as expanding the range of options on the full continuum from volunteer work to part- or full-time Bridge jobs to full-time paid Encore careers. These ideas, and others, will entail community dialogue and consensus-building that could reinforce efforts to engage Baby Boomers, transcending any one institution. The loose and fragmented structures of most minority communities are not presently so conducive to such community-wide efforts, although at least in local and national Jewish or Catholic communi - ties in particular, there are robust mechanisms in place that could address and support com - munal efforts, if the will for change is present. We return to the most basic fact: Baby Boomers represent the largest, wealthiest and best educated generational cohort in the history of the United States. In each stage of their lives, Baby Boomers have placed great demands on the institutional structures and on the norms and values of America. There is every reason to assume that as they age this inuence will continue and their interests will need to be addressed. Finding pathways that will bring Baby Boomers into the communal institutional life of a minority community may be a prerequisite for that community to ourish in the United States in the coming years. This certainly would seem true for the Jewish community, where almost half of the active adult population are Baby Boomers. Addressing the question of how best to engage Baby Boomers is urgent. This study offers some insights about this new phase of life, a survey that links Baby Boomers’ search for meaning to the minority community with which they identify and some initial strategies that could maximize Baby Boomer involvement in the communal institutions of the Jewish community. Baby Boomers, Public Service and Minority Communities is one step in providing data and analysis that can support efforts by minority communities to engage Baby Boomers in public service and foster institutional changes that can be replicated across the continent. 40 Appendix2:JewishFederationsthatparticipatedin the Jewish Encore Survey and the number of responses from each community Cities, StatesFinal AdjustedCities, StatesFinal Adjusted and RegionsResponsesand RegionsResponses Atlanta,GA 509 NewMexico47 Atlantic City, NJ24New Haven, CT136 Baltimore,MD 305 Northern592 New York City, Westchester, Boston, MA343Long Island, NY486 Broward County, FL59Oakland and East Bay, CA197 Chicago, IL820Orange County, CA37 Cincinnati, OH374Palm Beach County, FL606 Cleveland, OH991Philadelphia, PA179 Columbus,OH 285 Phoenix,AZ 688 DenverandallCO 499 Pittsburgh,PA 720 Houston, TX301Portland, OR Jacksonville,FL 43 SanDiego,CA 333 Los Angeles, CA362San Francisco, CA341 Metrowest, NJ79Santa Barbara, CA14 MiamiDade,FL 429 Seattle,WA 89 Milwaukee,WI 115 Tucson,AZ381 Washington,DC; Central41 NorthernVA;SouthernMD 1,441 No Answer/refused33Other231 Total responses12,133 44 Works Cited Association of Jewish Family & Children’s Agencies. 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